Quote:
Originally posted by SOPi_Jawbreaker
I think a big part of that is parents explicitly sharing their values with their children, letting their children know what is expected of them (such as no drug use, no underage drinking, drinking in moderation, no pre-marital sex, no unprotected sex, etc.)
It's about teaching young people to be mature, independent thinkers. And it's about teaching young people to deal with their problems in healthy ways (exercise, talking to friends, talking to parents, going for a walk to calm down, etc.) rather than using alcohol or drugs to deal with stress and hurt feelings.
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This is a nice sentiment that we'll be confident enough to know when to stop but the other half is changing the culture of drinking behind closed doors. When underage drinkers are about to do go out what do they do? They take a whole bunch of shots, playing some game and then they leave, they don't drink over an extended period of time. When they get up, they experience a different level of intoxication than when they had been sitting. My college tried to discourage games, but wouldn't card anyone who was just walking around campus w/an open container drinking. The idea was that if we were out being social at common spots we'd be less likely to down x number of shots in a short time period. And when something did go wrong, we'd also be more likely to call for help w/out fear of punishment. I won't lie, we did have probelms occasionally. There were people who went to the hospital, but 90% of those people had been playing drinking games behind closed doors - ie sitting for a long period of time w/out moving. I don't think this is a universal solution, my college had a unique segment of the population, but I do think it is something to learn from.
This guy is amazing
http://www.geocities.com/mikegreeny/Greenys
Mike Green talks to EVERY freshman class at my college. He does great things about awareness and reminding people to pay attention. Where I would reccomend David Stollman for a great Recruitment Prog, I would reccomdend Greeny for a great drinking program, I believe that his program is truly that powerful. I saw him three times in college (as a Frosh, an OL and an RA) everytime I got something from it.